"There's a Place For Non-Believers"

Awesome New Republic - Rational Geographic Vol I & II
My Thoughts: Like ()

Not too long ago Awesome New Republic released the first installment to their Rational Geographic trilogy, reportedly inspired by the original Star Wars trilogy and the past 30 years of the American Government. That's if Wikipedia is to be trusted. Interesting idea, but it would be rather moot if the music was lame. Thankfully, the first and second installments (the latter will be out next Tuesday) give us reason to care about the inspiration.

The first of the two starts out with a short little piano track which skillfully leads into an MJ inspired synthline driven groove out reminiscent of early house tracks (at times). The next couple tracks are a little more rock and roll driven, but they are still unabashedly lovable synthtrash. The outlier being Digital World which features an acoustic guitar for a large portion of the song. The six songs are fun and good, but I felt a little unfulfilled after listening to them. It just didn't feel like it was enough. Then, after hearing the second volume, I got a feeling for what they were going for, and the undeniably empty 80's sound that prevailed through the EP.

The second volume starts out with a drum heavy, emotional piano driven track that is almost too much, but I still enjoyed the melodrama. The EP is has a very Scissor Sisters type of sound at times, emotional, dramatic, and unassuming at first, then synth-rocking out (specifically "Florida" and "Blanket of Light"). A very rump shaking EP. The tracks that are slower, almost hip-hop, grime tracks are still fairly engaging pop tracks ("Woman" in particular). It sounds a lot more full and thoroughly thought out than the first installment, but it actually makes the first part more fun than it had seemed before, because now there's a heavier thing to compare it too, so it's lightness becomes more darling.

I'm interesting to see what happens with the third installment.

You can grab the first installment here for free

You will probably be able to hear select tracks from the second record on their myspace once it drops next Tuesday.